Pre-Christmas Activities

 We brought up the spare artificial tree from the basement, vacuumed the spiders from it, and decorated the top half. Viola! Bryce-proof Christmas tree...

 We were able to go to the Krohn Conservatory a couple of times. It is nice to feel like you are in a tropical area of the world for a little while. They have a tree made of poinsettias, two trains (Bryce's favorite part), a huge 20' tree decorated with handmade natural ornaments, and a nativity scene with live animals. Pretty cool!

 

 Notice the poinsettia tree in the background. So beautiful!

 

 Merry Christmas!!!

Being Silly

 Loves chocolate--mommy's boy!!!

Stuck in the seat of his walker

Happy Thanksgiving!

We got ourselves a "real" turkey! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Projects

 

 We got a couple of dressers for free back in Provo, but I wasn't too fond of them. With a little paint and new pulls, voila! Much better. "New" dresser for the B-ryce. The one above I actually painted blue, the one below was the smaller of the two, now green!

Boy from the Cupboard

 Wasn't Harry Potter the "little boy from the cupboard?"

 Loves playing peek!

Gets mad when he can't shut the door because his fingers are in the way.

We tried them...

Yes, yes, we did try them. Cloth diapers. Can't do it though. 

Too many cons + bad experience x 2 = we'll stick with disposable diapers. 

Cute on him though. He seemed to like them better, but the two huge poops that I had to wash out did it for me. Plus the whole living on the 2nd and 3rd floors with washer in the basement and laundry every other day... anyway, if you have a good system and a diaper sprayer and don't share a washing machine with a neighbor, they are great. :)

Birthday Boy!

 Happy Birthday Jess! I think he had a good birthday.

 Birthday dinner

Cake the next day--ran out of time on the official day.

Back in Cincy

 We made it back to Cincinnati, safe and sound, as you all know. :) Everything in our apartment was in its place and it was a lot cleaner than we expected. No spiders or signs of additional tenants. Yay! Our neighbor in the apartment below was very kind to keep an eye on the place for us.

Bryce is excited to play with his mini stereo that plays the Macarena again.

 

Breaking in the "clean" apartment. I spilled a whole crock pot of chili as I was cleaning and moved the island where the crock pot was sitting. It exploded everywhere! Bryce helped me clean up.

Nauvoo

 On our drive across the country, we were able to stop for a couple of days in Nauvoo. It was a lot of fun to explore and we really enjoyed our time there.

We went on a buggy ride, a wagon ride, walked around the temple, visited some of the buildings, and ate yummy food at Hotel Nauvoo.

 Bryce was so excited to be out of his car seat. He loved being able to run around!

 Jess' dad told us about this--pretty cool to discover you have roots in Nauvoo

Idaho

Congratulations to Jess!!! He ran his first half marathon in record time!

B-ryce and Woodson hanging out

One thing I miss about Idaho--the best sunsets

During our short stay with family, I was able to hike Table Rock with my sister Amanda. It is a grueling 12 mile hike, but so worth the view and the sense of accomplishment!

Cool pic of Amanda

Ashley's 18th Birthday! She is headed to State Jr. Miss next weekend and we wish her good luck! 
We are so proud of you Shirl!

Spoky

Well, we had a short, but great time in Spokane. We teasingly refer to Spokane as Spoky to rhyme with Cincy, or something like that. Anyway, we really liked Spokane and enjoyed being a little closer to family for the time we were there. Here, Bryce and I are riding the Loof Carousel--over 100 years old--in Spoky's Riverfront Park. It's great being a parent because it is socially acceptable to do stuff like this again.

The tomatoes on my tomato plant were about 1" in diameter when we left. :( We were looking forward to eating some home grown tomatoes, but oh well, I got to practice. And at least I was able to get the almost dead tomato plant back to life.

One of my favorite parts about Spokane--Manito Park. What a beautiful place! Our last week there, I took a bunch of pictures of B-ryce in his tie that I made him.

Seattle

Our last weekend in Spokane, we were able to drive over to Seattle. We have always wanted to visit, and it was a fun trip. This was before we got in line to go up the Space Needle. :) Happy boy!

View from the Space Needle. The weather was perfect--we got up to the top at around 5:30 p.m.

Enjoying the sights

On a stroll at Bainbridge Island. We took a ferry across the harbor and enjoyed this quaint area with cute shops and lots of boats.

On the ferry ride back to Seattle. We were also able to check out Pike Street Market and Pioneer Square (oldest part of Seattle).

Schweitzer

We made it up to Sandpoint the weekend after Old Mission. What a fun trip--it was a gorgeous day and we loved the beautiful views of Lake Pend Oreille from Schweitzer Mountain.

Me and the B-ryce enjoying our "hike" at the top.

The one thing I thought when we got up to the top was "Wow"

Edible rocks?

Adventures of B-ryce

What's next? The top of the refrigerator?

Done eating

Finally, one he can't get off his head.

BBC (baby bum crack)

Answering the door